A darts competition between two rival universities had to be abandoned after it descended into violence, with fights breaking out between spectators and chairs and drinks thrown.
Police were reportedly called to the “Sheffield Dartsity” event on Saturday night, an annual competition between Sheffield Hallam and Sheffield University students.
One student wrote on Twitter: “Darts, drinks, chairs, punches... everything getting thrown tonight.”
The event, which was held at the Sheffield University’s Octagon Centre, was abandoned during the sixth match of the evening because of the violence.
The Russell Group university was leading 4-1 when play was suspended.
Tim Adams, a member of the Sheffield University darts team, said: “One person I saw chucked beer at one of the university’s fans and then at least ten of them started to fist fight.
“I spoke to grandparents of families who were disgusted by what happened, and a lot of them just walked out in disbelief.”
The journalism student said he also saw a chair “whistle past a cleaner’s head” as the event turned violent.
“There were a few tears in the player’s room afterwards as well,” Adams added.
The Sheffield University Darts Society has also condemned the behaviour, saying it was a “real shame” that a “minority” had ruined the event.
The group said: “The players who took part all threw great darts in the spirit of the game. It has always been that way between University of Sheffield Darts and Hallam Darts - we play together as friends.
“We cannot condemn strongly enough the disgraceful behaviour of those who refused to respect the two teams and the staff,” they continued.
“As a society we have strived to shed the negative image of darts and make the sport something everyone can enjoy. We will not stop trying in spite of the events last night.”
Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam will work together to identify those involved and “take appropriate action to prevent similar incidents taking place in the future”.
A joint statement from the institutions read: “The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University are extremely proud of how our students regularly collaborate.
“Our teams always work hard to demonstrate and promote their shared values of pride, respect, fair play and sportsmanship. Incidents like those seen at ‘Dartsity’ on Saturday are incredibly rare and we utterly condemn this type of behaviour.”
It continued: “We know that both our darts societies worked hard to organise the event on Saturday night and have expressed deep regret about the incident and the impact it had on the vast majority of supporters.”